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Evaluating dose-response of cataract induction in radiotherapy of head and neck cancers patients
Get PDFBackground: Head and neck cancers are currently the most common types of cancers. 3D-conformal radiation therapy is the most common dose delivery technique for head and neck cancers. Eye Lens is a radio sensitive structure and cataract formation as a visual disorder associated with exposure to ionizing radiation which is documented. Objective: Determining the radiation dose to eye lens during head and neck radiography and estimating the probability of cataract induction are essential. Material and Methods: This experimental study was performed on 14 patients with head and neck cancers through experimental study analysis. The maximum opacity of the eyes lens were measured by pentacam� before radiation therapy. CT data of patients were transmitted to Isogray treatment planning Software, and dose calculations for each patient was performed. At the end of radiation treatment, 3 and 6 months after radiotherapy, the eye lens opacity of the patients was assessed. Results: Overall, 28 lenses were studied. Statistical one sample K-S test proved normality of obtained data. Using repeated measures test, the relation before and 3 months after radiotherapy, as well as the relationship before and 6 months after radiotherapy proved a significant relationship. Conclusion: The opacity caused by radiation in eyes is a non-statistical and linear-quadratic response curve with no threshold. This opacity can also appear within 3 months after completion of radiation therapy. © 2021, Shriaz University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved
A systematic review on membrane technology for carwash wastewater treatment: Efficiency and limitations
No full textCar cleaning in carwash centers is one of the most important parts of water use. Carwash waste-waters (CW) contain significant quantities of contaminants such as oil and grease, surfactants, solids, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Various treatment technologies like membrane processes have been utilized for the treatment of CW; it should be noted that all these methods have advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, in this study, a systematic review of the benefits and limitations of the application of membrane technology for CW treatment was carried out. To this end, first, keywords were identified, and a search protocol was defined. Then, search in Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science was explored to find related articles in June 2019. The results showed that ultrafilter is the most used membrane type for CW treatment; furthermore, the efficiency of membrane processes in the reduction of turbidity and chemical oxygen demand in most studies was reported to be more than 90 and 70, respectively. However, the rapid and severe flux reduction and pH changes in permeate are the significant limitations of membrane technology for CW treatment. The use of the pretreatment processes for fouling mitigation can be useful in CW treatment through the membrane processes. © 2021 Desalination Publications. All rights reserved
Elevation of Urate in Saliva and Serum of Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis
No full textBackground: Knee osteoarthritis (knee OA) is the most common joint disease and the leading cause of disability and has a considerable financial burden on the healthcare system. Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate urate in saliva and serum of knee OA. Methods: Serum and saliva urate levels of 30 knee OA and 30 healthy controls were evaluated in a cross-sectional study. Data were analysed by Student's t test, Pearson correlation test, and receiver operating characteristic. Results: The mean serum and both stimulated and unstimulated saliva urate levels were higher in the knee OA than that of the healthy group. WOMAC score positively correlated with serum (r = 0.485; p = 0.004), unstimulated saliva (r = 0.575; p = 0.001) and stimulated saliva (r = 0.453; p = 0.009) levels of urate. The serum level of urate significantly correlated with unstimulated (r = 0.442; p < 0.001) and stimulated (r = 0.563; p < 0.001) saliva urate levels. Serum and saliva urate had significant cutoff values (6.4, 4.9, and 3.3 mg/dL in serum, stimulated, and unstimulated saliva, respectively). Conclusion: In this study, urate in serum and saliva was increased in patients with knee OA and positively correlated with WOMAC. © 202
Olfactory mucosa stem cells delivery via nasal route: a simple way for the treatment of Parkinson disease
No full textFinding a simple and effective way for transferring cells to the brain lesion site with minimum side effects mounts a challenge in cell therapy. Cell delivery via nasal route using the bypassing the blood-brain barrier (BBB) property is a simple and non-invasive strategy without serious complications such as trauma. Therefore, it is a suitable technique to treat neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson�s disease (PD). Olfactory ectomesenchymal stem cells (OE-MSCs) located in the lamina propria of olfactory mucosa could be differentiated into dopaminergic neurons under in vitro and in vivo conditions. Thus, OE-MSCs represent a good source of Parkinson�s stem cell�based therapy. In this research, we studied thirty male rats (n = 10 in each group) in three control (Ctl), lesion (LE), and intranasal administration (INA) groups to investigate the therapeutic effect of intranasal injection of OE-MSCs in the Parkinson�s animal models. To do so, we examined the homing variation of OE-MSCs in different brain regions such as olfactory bulb (OB), cortex, striatum (Str), hippocampus (HPC), and substantia nigra (SN). The results of real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis showed the expression of dopaminergic neuron markers such as PITX3, PAX2, PAX5 (as dopaminergic neurons markers), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), and dopamine transporter (DAT) 2 months after INA of 1 � 106 OE-MSCs. The results confirmed that IN OE-MSCs delivery into the central nervous system (CNS) was powerful enough to improve the behavioral functions in the animal models of PD. Graphical Abstract: Figure not available: see fulltext.. © 2021, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
Reallocation of unoccupied beds among requesting wards
No full textDisruptions can cause demand fluctuation, thus overcrowding at hospital wards, and can make the waiting list of patients longer. Bed management at hospitals is one of the solutions to deal with overcrowding. In addition, Resilience Engineering (RE) is an approach that can help organizations to bounce back to their desired performance state after a disruption. In this paper, the concept of RE has been used to improve the bed management of hospitals during and after disruption. More precisely, bed sharing among hospital wards has been introduced as a collaboration strategy and its impact on the length of patients� waiting list as the major performance index is investigated. Relationship priority between different wards, patients� gender, patients� length of stay and the number of rooms in every ward are the major factors considered in our modeling. A mixed integer linear programming optimization model with the objective of minimizing the patients� waiting time in a hospital has been proposed for the real-world problems. The main contribution of the present paper is proposing a resiliency-based modeling of bed management in hospitals. Due to the complexity and making the proposed model applicable to the real world problems, a simulated annealing algorithm is used to solve the model and a new procedure for creating initial solution is presented. The results show that applying resilience strategy has a considerable impact on improving the hospital�s performance index. © 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature
The effect of soy isoflavones and soy isoflavones plus soy protein on serum concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
No full textIn this study, we summarized the effect of soy isoflavones and soy isoflavones plus soy protein on serum concentration of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) among adult participants. We systematically searched Scopus, ISI Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PubMed, and clinicaltrials.gov for articles published up to May 2020. Effect size was calculated by mean change from baseline of TNF-α concentrations and its standard deviation (SD) for intervention and comparison groups. If the heterogeneity test was statistically significant, DerSimonian and Laird random effects model was used to estimate the summary of the overall effects and its heterogeneity. Nineteen and fourteen randomized clinical trials were included in our systematic review and meta-analysis, respectively. The result of overall effect size indicated a non-significant effect in serum concentration of TNF-α following soy isoflavones intake (WMD = 0.2 pg/ml, 95 CI: �0.13, 0.53; p =.226) and the combination of soy isoflavones and soy protein intake (WMD = 0.02 pg/ml, 95 CI: �0.02, 0.06; p =.286). Subgroup analyses revealed no significant change in circulatory levels of TNF-α following soy isoflavones plus soy protein intake. In conclusion, the present systematic review and meta-analysis found insufficient evidence that soy isoflavones or the combination of soy isoflavones and soy protein significantly reduce serum concentration of TNF-α. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
The application of nano-medicine to overcome the challenges related to immune checkpoint blockades in cancer immunotherapy: Recent advances and opportunities
No full textAlthough immunosurveillance mechanisms are doing their best to counteract with the development of malignant cells, immune checkpoints may serve as the �Achilles' heel� that are exploited by malignant cells. Notably, a deep understanding of this fragile site of the immune system later led to the development of immune checkpoint blockades (ICBs). At the beginning of the discovery, it seemed that these agents could push the boundaries of cancer treatment, however, their life-threatening adverse events have muted the enthusiasm into their application in cancer. It was here that nanotechnology came to the aid of ICBs, as it became evident that the combination of nano-products with ICBs guarantees the delivery of the agents into the tumor nidus, where paralyzed immune cells are waiting for healing. In the present review, we tried to illustrate a new portrait from the befitting impacts of ICBs either as single or in a combined-modal strategy with nanoparticles. © 2020 Elsevier B.V
Culture density of menstrual blood-derived stromal/stem cells determines the quality of t cell responses: An experimental study
Get PDFBackground: Menstrual blood-derived stromal/stem cells (MenSCs) are a new population of refreshing and highly proliferative stem cells. Immunomodulatory effects of MenSCs profoundly depend on their relative density. Objective: To find whether MenSCs cultured at varying numbers would differentially affect the allogenic peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) key features. Materials and Methods: PBMCs were co-cultured with various MenSCs numbers. PBMCs proliferation was investigated via3H-thymidine incorporation. Flow cytometry was used to assess human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR, HLA-ABC, HLA-G, and co-stimulatory markers on MenSCs and the percentage of regulatory T cells (Tregs) among PBMCs. The concentration of cytokines was determined in supernatant of co-cultures. Results: The support of PBMCs proliferation at low MenSCs densities correlated with higher levels of pro-inflammatory interferon gamma (IFN-γ) in MenSCs/PBMCs co-culture and increased expression of HLA-DR by MenSCs. On the other hand, the suppressive property of MenSCs at higher densities was independent of Treg frequency, but correlated with a high concentration of Interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 in the co-cultures. Conclusion: Totally, at different seeding densities, MenSCs could differentially interact with PBMCs leading to significant changes in the level of anti-and/or pro-inflammatory factors. These preliminary in vitro results are suggested to be taken into consideration in experimental models of MenSC-based immunomodulation. Nonetheless, for efficient utilization of MenSCs anti-inflammatory features in pre-clinical disease models, we still need to broaden our knowledge on MenSC-immune system cross-talk; this could play a part in designing more optimized MenSCs injection modalities in the case of future pre-clinical and subsequently clinical settings. © Nikoo et al
Optimization of UV-Electroproxone procedure for treatment of landfill leachate: the study of energy consumption
Get PDFWith increased population, treatment of solid waste landfill and its leachate is of major concern. Municipal landfill leachate shows variable, heterogeneous and incontrollable characteristics and contains wide range highly concentrated organic and inorganic compounds, in which hampers the application of a solo method in its treatment. Among different approaches, biological treatment can be used, however it is not effective enough to elimination all refractory organics, containing fulvic-like and humic-like substance. In this experimental study, the UV Electroperoxone process as a hybrid procedure has been employed to treat landfill leachate. The effect of various parameters such as pH, electrical current density, ozone concentration, and reaction time were optimized using central composite design (CCD). In the model fitting, the quadratic model with a P-Value less than 0.5 was suggested (< 0.0001). The R2, R2 adj, and R2 pre were determined equal to 0.98,0.96, and 0.91 respectively. Based on the software prediction, the process can remove 83 of initial COD, in the optimum condition of pH = 5.6, ozone concentration of 29.1 mg/l. min, the current density of 74.7 mA/cm2, and process time of 98.6 min. In the optimum condition, 55/33 mM H2O2 was generated through electrochemical mechanism. A combination of ozonation, photolysis and electrolysis mechanism in this hybrid process increases COD efficiency removal up 29 percent which is higher than the sum of separated mechanisms. Kinetic study also demonstrated that the UV-EPP process follows pseudo-first order kinetics (R2 = 0.99). Based on our results, the UV-EPP process can be informed as an operative technique for treatment of old landfills leachates. Graphical abstract: Figure not available: see fulltext. © 2021, The Author(s)
Three-dimensionally printed polycaprolactone/multicomponent bioactive glass scaffolds for potential application in bone tissue engineering
Get PDFOver the last years, three-dimensional (3D) printing has been successfully applied to produce suitable substitutes for treating bone defects. In this work, 3D printed composite scaffolds of polycaprolactone (PCL) and strontium (Sr)- and cobalt (Co)-doped multi-component melt-derived bioactive glasses (BGs) were prepared for bone tissue engineering strategies. For this purpose, 30 of as-prepared BG particles (size <38 μm) were incorporated into PCL, and then the obtained composite mix was introduced into a 3D printing machine to fabricate layer-by-layer porous structures with the size of 12 � 12 � 2 mm3. The scaffolds were fully characterized through a series of physico-chemical and biological assays. Adding the BGs to PCL led to an improvement in the compressive strength of the fabricated scaffolds and increased their hydrophilicity. Furthermore, the PCL/BG scaffolds showed apatite-forming ability (i.e., bioactivity behavior) after being immersed in simulated body fluid (SBF). The in vitro cellular examinations revealed the cytocompatibility of the scaffolds and confirmed them as suitable substrates for the adhesion and proliferation of MG-63 osteosarcoma cells. In conclusion, 3D printed composite scaffolds made of PCL and Sr- and Co-doped BGs might be potentially-beneficial bone replacements, and the achieved results motivate further research on these materials. © 2020 Amirhosein Fathi et al., published by De Gruyter 2020